ISRAEL’S ELTA MAY HAVE WON FIRE CONTROL RADAR CONTRACT FOR TEJAS JETS

Israel’s ELTA Systems, a division and subsidiary of Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), has been awarded a $55-million contract for the provision of Multi-Mode Airborne ELM-2032 Fire Control Radars to be installed on newly produced advanced combat aircraft. The radar offers a broad range of operational modes, including high-resolution mapping in Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) mode, detection, tracking, and imaging of aircraft, moving ground and sea targets. The contract is a repeat order, reflecting the customer’s high satisfaction with the radar and ELTA.

Elta had been in the race along with Thales of France to supply the fire control radar for the TEJAS project and reports in the Indian media earlier this year said that the Israeli firm many have won the contest with only the contract remaining to be signed.

Yoav Turgeman, IAI VP and CEO of ELTA, said in the press release on 16th October that, “The Multi-Mode ELM-2032 Airborne Fire Control Radars is a versatile radar and addresses several mission types in a single product. Its field of regard, long detection range and accurate tracking provides the pilots with full situation awareness, and its accurate information is used by the aircraft’s systems. We are excited about winning this contract, and are grateful that our customers consider ELTA’s radars as best in its class.”

The release also said that the contract is a repeat order. India had previously ordered an earlier version of the radar for its Jaguar upgrade program.

The ELM-2032 is an advanced pulse Doppler, multi-mode planar array fire-control radar intended for multi-role fighter aircraft which originated from the defunct Lavi project. It is suitable for air-to-air and air-to-surface modes. The ELM-2032 offers a broad range of operational modes, including high-resolution mapping in SAR mode, detection, tracking, and imaging of aircraft, moving ground and sea targets.

This radar has been integrated with several Indian platforms, as part of modernisation programs of India’s Sea Harrier, Jaguar (earlier version), Mirage-2000, and MiG-21 fighters. Significantly, it was also selected for India’s TEJAS light fighter. It is also installed in A-4, F-4, F-5, F-16, Kfir C-10 and the Korean T-50 and FA-50.

The radar can be installed on a variety of airborne fighters. As one of the leading radars of its type, it is operational in many countries worldwide.